Team MotoSport Kawasaki to End After 2007
MotoSport to Focus More Broadly on Support of Amateur Racers
MotoSport, of Corona, Calif., and Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (KMC), based in Irvine, Calif., have jointly announced its Supercross/Motocross racing team, Team MotoSport Kawasaki, will end with the close of the 2007 motocross season.
According to Bill Butcher, founder of MotoSport, the company plans to discontinue its professional team activities to create more opportunities to support up-and-coming racers. Since its inception, MotoSport has committed considerable efforts to serving the powersports community, and Butcher has indicated this will continue, specifically through programs that include individual amateur sponsorships and support of enthusiast venues.
Team MotoSport Kawasaki is fielding a four-man team with riders Bobby Kiniry, Steve Boniface, and longtime Team Green™ riders Kyle Chisholm and Matt Boni. The team has been campaigning their Kawasaki KX™250F motorcycles in the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Lites Series as well as the AMA Toyota Motocross Lites Championship.
“Racing has always been fundamental to the culture of MotoSport,” said Butcher. “I race motocross, as do most of our employees, and I fully believe that it is this connection to the sport that has driven our success,” he concluded.
Bruce Stjernstrom, director of marketing at KMC, can easily relate to the position taken by MotoSport. “Kawasaki understands the importance MotoSport is placing on amateur motocross racing,” said Stjernstrom. “We have led the way with Team Green™ since 1981 and have used the program to build invaluable relationships with our dealers and customers for 26 years.”
Butcher said MotoSport receives thousands of requests for support from amateur racers, and this new approach will allow the company to better respond to the riding community and help broaden the audience for motocross competition.
